Laois town's St Patrick's Day parade is growing larger each year

A Laois town has revived a St Patrick’s Day parade after almost 100 years.

The St Patrick’s Day Parade committee in Clonaslee are excited to welcome locals to join them this March.

"The revival of the parade is relatively new, we are on the third or fourth year," Mr Flanagan explained.

"There originally was a parade around 80 or 90 years ago, so it has been a long time since we have started it up again."

Mr Flanagan praised Clonaslee's sense of community spirit in banding together to make this parade a success.

"For a small community, we do get a lot of sponsorship and help," he said.

Pictured: Clonaslee locals launch their upcoming St Patrick's Day parade. Photos: Michael Scully

"We were very lucky, we had a meeting last night to go over details and we had over 40 people in attendance, it's great for a voluntary thing. So many people are volunteering as stewards," he said.

"Clonaslee is only a small community, I think the last census showed around 500 or 600 people in the area. But we all help and buy in, it's a fantastic effort," Mr Flanagan said.

"The week before last year's St Patrick's Day parade, we had around 40 people doing 12 hours shifts putting up bunting and flags. Committee members were up and out at six in the morning sorting speakers," Mr Flanagan said.

Read more: In Pictures: Laois town goes green to launch St Patrick's Day parade

The Clonaslee St Patrick's Day parade continues to grow in numbers every year.

"Last year we had over 100 different floats in attendance, and it was around 80 floats the year before," Mr Flanagan said.

"The numbers just keep going up and up. We have floats coming from all over the county and country, from Mountmellick to Tullamore," he said.

Mr Flanagan told the Leinster Express / Laois Live that the 2024 St Patrick's Day parade saw sunshine and massive crowds.

"Last year the weather was great and we had a massive turnout," Mr Flanagan said. 

"Over the years we have had different grand marshals, from retired RTÉ newsreader Eileen Dunne, to Clonaslee Paralympian Garrett Culleton.

"Last year we had Maura O'Gorman and Mick Fallon, Clonaslee people who represented different community groups here," Mr Flanagan said.

A famous set of pipes belonging to the legendary piper, Frank Dunne are to be presented to the Clonaslee St Patrick's Day Parade committee.

Frank, a War of Independence veteran, was father of the late RTÉ gaelic games commentator from Laois, Mick Dunne, and grandfather of the former RTÉ newsreader, Eileen Dunne, who has always retained her roots in Laois.

"Last Sunday, Eileen and her immediate family donate the bagpipes to the parade committee, they are over 100 years old," Mr Flanagan said.

Pictured: Moira & Eileen Dunne, their late father Mick and the pipes owned by their father and grandfather Frank. Pics of Moira, Eileen and Mick from Sportsfile.

The 2025 Grand Marshalls of the Clonaslee St Patrick's Day parade are the Golden Jubilee Clonaslee  team that won the senior hurling final in 1975.

The parade will offer a wide arrange of prizes for float entrants, including a €600 cash prize for the best float. There will be €150 cash prizes for the winners of these categories:  the best vintage float, the best dressed dog, the most original float, the best club / school, and the most entertaining.

"There is serious community spirit here in Clonaslee," Mr Flanagan said.

"There are some people who have moved to Clonaslee and have gotten involved, it's a great bit of criac and it's all voluntary," he said.

The group recently launched the St Patrick's Day parade in the Clonaslee Community Centre.

"The launch went very well, we went through the plans for the parade and thanked the people involved," Mr Flanagan explained.

Clonaslee village looks forward to inviting you to their St Patrick's Day Parade on March 1 at 12 noon sharp, with assembly at the Clonaslee Community Centre from 11am.